The Hacker Shuffle

The Hacker Shuffle

Author: J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado October 31, 2025 Duration: 31:44
On this episode of Pop Tech Jam, El Kaiser and J.D.  discuss — among many other things — electronic playing-card shufflers, Oreos, A.I. slop, robot hands and “Peacemaker.” Listen in on PTJ 387! • How Hacked Card Shufflers Allegedly Enabled a Mob-Fueled Poker Scam That Rocked the NBA (Wired) • Real Estate Is Entering Its AI Slop Era (Wired) • Phony AI-Created Receipts Become Real Problem for Businesses (PYMTS.com) • OpenAI reportedly developing new generative music tool (Tech Crunch) • Oreo-maker Mondelez to use new generative AI tool to slash marketing costs (Reuters) • The ‘Hands Problem’ Holding Back the Humanoid Revolution (The Wall Street Journal) • Robot umpires approved for MLB in 2026 as part of challenge system (CNN) • Trump and Xi will ‘consummate’ TikTok deal on Thursday, treasury secretary says (TechCrunch) • TikTok may not be Chinese-owned anymore, but there still is a privacy problem (Brookings) • Exclusive: US Department of Energy forms $1 billion supercomputer and AI partnership with AMD (Reuters) • Apple Newsroom announcements • Apple Readies Its First Ever Touch-Screen MacBook (Bloomberg) • What’s Next for iPad Pro? A Vapor Chamber Like the One on the iPhone 17 Pro (Bloomberg) • Ads likely coming to Apple Maps in 2026 (Apple Insider) • New MacBook Pro Nears Mass Production, But Four Bigger Upgrades Expected Next Year (MacRumors) • Apple Shelves Vision Headset Revamp to Prioritize Meta-Like AI Glasses (Bloomberg) • Google’s “G” gets a brighter look. (Google blog) • Podcasts and News Fact Sheet (Pew Research Center)

Tune into POP | TECH | JAM for a weekly conversation that feels like grabbing a coffee with friends who are just as obsessed with the latest streaming series as they are with the inner workings of a new gadget. Hosts J.D. Biersdorfer and Pedro Rafael Rosado steer this independent audio magazine, blending sharp commentary on movies and television with insightful, accessible discussions about the technology shaping how we experience all that culture. Each episode is a deliberate mash-up, finding the unexpected connections between a trending app and a classic film, or how a breakthrough in tech might influence the next must-watch show. You'll hear thoughtful reviews, dig into news that matters across these intertwined worlds, and get a sense of the genuine curiosity and rapport the hosts bring to every topic. This podcast thrives on that energetic mix, creating a space that’s both informative and engaging without ever taking itself too seriously. It’s less a formal broadcast and more of a dynamic, ongoing jam session-hence the name-where pop culture and digital life collide in entertaining and thought-provoking ways.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 170

POP | TECH | JAM
Podcast Episodes
Tangled Up in Blue [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:51
J.D. and El Kaiser ponder: Just how sturdy is the world's technological infrastructure these days?
Retro Fever [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:05
El Kaiser and J.D. take a walk down a repaved Memory Lane discussing the growing public interest in old 20th-century analog treasures like film cameras, vinyl records — and "X-Men" cartoons.
AI Heats Up [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 32:56
There's no slowing the wave of AI-enhanced products hurtling into the world, so this week's episode ponders just a few of them.
BADGE IN [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:13
El Kaiser shares his love for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. and J.D. keeps the Trek vibe going with a short news roundup that includes a report on a wearable AI pin that brings to mind a Next Generation communicator bad…
THE AMAZING ADVENTURES OF ROBO-WEEBLE [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 31:16
El Kaiser and J.D. discuss the New York Police Department's new security robot on patrol in Times Square, as well as new artificial voice technology, iOS 17, sassy chatbots, the end of the Netflix DVDs and much more.
Nothin' But Bluesky Do I See [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 30:13
El Kaiser and J.D. discuss life after the Bird-Themed Microblogging-Service-Turned-24th-Letter-Of-The-Alphabet platform, as well as reviews of the new biography of said platform’s owner.
Ride of the Valkyries [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 29:38
El Kaiser dives into Season 1 of Only Murders in the Building and J.D. reads up on the latest in drones 'n' cloud headlines.
SPACE WARS AND MOON BASES [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:03
Movie ticket prices are sky high and streaming services keep increasing their monthly fees but more importantly, what's with all this renewed global interest in the Moon?
Think Pink [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 38:04
El Kaiser shares his love of My Hero Academia and open-backed headphones for audio-mixing and J.D. goes to the movies ⎯ for the first time since 2019.
"Quadio! Hie thee hither to Threads!" [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:09
On this episode; the potential impact of the current writers' and actors' strikes on the entertainment industry, the emergence of Threads as a challenge to Twitter and the modern-era revival of Quadrophonic surround soun…